by Jack Burns, The Free Thought Project:

An influential Catholic Cardinal has been accused of sexually assaulting teenage boys and having “dozens” of sexual relationships with young men.

In what appears to be a continuation of the #MeToo movement, and following decades of substantiated accusations of sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church, a rock star American Catholic Cardinal stands accused of abusing an 11-year-old boy. The abuse continued for over 20 years.

Father Theodore E. McCarrick began abusing “James” in 1969 when the now 60-year-old man was just 11. James told the New York Times that McCarrick was a family friend and started grooming him following a swim in the family’s pool. Apparently pretending to be looking for the bathroom, McCarrick, who was already a priest, came into his bedroom, took his clothes off, exposed himself to the boy and said:

See, we are the same…It’s O.K., we are the same.

James contends that was the beginning of the abuse he experienced at the hands of a pedophile—abuse which went on for 20 years. Reportedly fighting through tears to tell his story, James no longer feels alone, and his secret is similar to the stories of others. He doesn’t have to continue to live in silence. Following the revelation that McCarrick abused a 16-year-old boy in 1971, James said he was relieved.

I got down on my knees and I thanked God that I am not alone and it is going to be O.K….And I can tell somebody and someone is going to believe me.

According to the explosive report, James told his parents what happened between him and “Uncle Ted” but was not believed. Still, the family moved to California where Father McCarrick would frequently visit the family. The Times reported:

By then, James said, Father McCarrick had begun abusing him sexually. When he was 13, he said, the priest first touched his penis. At 14, he said, Father McCarrick masturbated him in a beach parking lot. When he was 15, James said, Father McCarrick took him to a restaurant in San Francisco, the Tonga Room, and poured vodka in his drinks. He then brought him back to his hotel room and masturbated him and brought himself to orgasm, James said.

James later joined the Navy but continued his relationship with McCarrick who would take him to his NY beach house, the same home where other men claimed the now Cardinal would have sex with them.

In June, following the first credible accusation that Cardinal McCarrick abused a teenager (not James), he was asked to step down from his duties. He has not been fired and is still considered one of the most powerful Catholic priests in America.

Predictably, McCarrick denies the accusations he sexually abused a 16-year-old altar boy. He wrote in a statement:

While I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence…I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people.

Ironically, McCarrick, who at one time served as the Archbishop of Washington, was once charged with helping priests and the Catholic Church deal with accusations of sexual abuse among American priests. But according to several now published reports, the Catholic Church, as well as the mainstream media, knew McCarrick was a predator. For whatever reason, The New York Times chose not to run an article, which would have revealed that McCarrick was an abuser as early as 2012.

The June accusation, which claimed McCarrick sexually assaulted an altar boy, seems horrifically reminiscent of the abuse young girls claim to have experienced while attending a Baltimore Catholic school for girls at the hands of Father Joseph Maskell. Chronicled in a Netflix documentary called “The Keepers,” Joseph Maskell would call girls into his office for physical examinations, which ultimately led to sexual abuse. Like Maskell, McCarrick was in a position of authority at the Cathedral Prep Seminary in Manhattan and called a 16-year-old boy into a private area for “measuring” according to his lawyer. Patrick Noaker, the accuser’s lawyer told NYT:

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